September 4, 2012

That old quote sprang to mind just now, as I was thinking about whether Barack Obama will be able to reinvigorate the electorate with his old rhetoric when he does his convention speech this week. The quote is from — did you remember? — Richard Nixon.

We used to love to scoff at him for thinking he had anything to do with "the lift of a driving dream." But Barack Obama got us — some of us — to internalize the association between him and dreams. Can he — should he — do it again? To dream, you've got to sleep, and "what America needs most today" — and any day — is to be awake... vigilant.

A young person's dreams for the future used to involve things he or she would accomplish. Obama has informed us that individual achievement is impossible-- your dreams belong to the government and are dependent on the government's support and approval.

The dream, to be blunt, was Stanley Dunham's childish dream that getting impregnated by a black man was the key to a future of racial harmony.

The black man abandoned her. Per usual.

The problems of black people are mostly self-generated. The all-purpose explanation of "white racism" has failed after 60 years of application.

The dream is stupid. Racial differences, and some racial animosity are just facts of life that one must deal with.

The great liberal dream of eradicating every tiny semblance of "racism" as the only hope for blacks is just stupid. Like adultery, theft, malice, etc. ... racism is just one of those parts of the human condition that will always exist.

Time to give up the damned stupid campaign to eradicate all racism. The cure is worse than the disease.

I'm not sure what Obama could say, at this point, to reignite any enthusiasm for him, in anyone.

He's done so much to crush the dreams of so many Americans in his first term...what's he going to promise them in his second term that will make them forget about U3 unemployment over 8%, and U6 unemployment over 14%, for over 40 months?

And among those most susceptible to dreamy rhetoric, the young, unemployment is a nightmarish 50%.

Y'know, I hear alot about "The American Dream" in political speech. Usually the reference is to home ownership, college education, or some such, and nearly always referring to how the Other Party is preventing the People from reaching it.

But, y'know, I always thought the the American Dream - the thing sought by the Founders and the many many who have come to America since then - is ...

Good point. However, there is some question - subtle, to be sure, and rarely considered consciously - as to whether consciousness is any less dreaming than dreaming. Both conditions assume subject and object are different. Day dreams and night dreams. Waking and sleeping. Is there a difference.? Well, it would be difficult to find a settled answer to that question. Yet, on the context you use dreaming and vigilance, good point. Any time someone tells me I or they need a dream or a vision, I dismiss them. They want to manipulate me or disgrace their self. I have a hard enough time discerning what is real and true. Reverie can be useful, dreaming is dangerous or useless. I despise shrinks.

"Manufacturing shrank at its sharpest clip in more than three years last month, while separate data showed exports and hiring in the sector slumped in another shot to the country’s struggling economy. August was the third month in a row of contraction in manufacturing, and firms in the sector hired the fewest workers since late 2009, according to an Institute for Supply Management survey on Tuesday." (via Instapundit)

"But Barack Obama got us — some of us — to internalize the association between him and dreams. Can he — should he — do it again?"

He can't do it again. Too many people won't buy it. Which is why he's running such a divisive, identity politics campaign. My fear is that if he pulls it off the national mood will be even more poisonous than it is now.

Fatherless is certainly a problem for many black children, but I was speaking of your problem. The one that has you asserting causality you have no way of knowing simply because it involved a black man and a white woman.

The foolishness of the great liberal dream... that racism must be completely eradicated from the earth... was made manifest by the dumb post yesterday about two blacks at the Republican convention who supposedly were offended by the tossing of a couple of peanuts and a mild insult.

The purported "racist" insult was so slight that only a person who cannot leave home without Mommy holding his hand would be much moved by it.

The racism must be eradicated dream has become, as I said, worse than the purported disease.

Shouting Thomas said... The one that has you asserting causality you have no way of knowing simply because it involved a black man and a white woman.

The Red Diaper baby syndrome Stanley Dunham suffered from is one I have encoutered with great frequency.

There is no "simply" to my knowledge of this syndrome.

That possibility A exists to explain circumstance set 1 is only sufficient to prove possibility A is factual when no other possibilities exist. Therefore your assertion is that the possibility you mention is literally the only reason black men and white women ever get together.

This is the least offensive interpretation of your remarks. Given the insulting and emotionally driven tone I'd say this interpretation is overly generous.

Really quite stunning...he LIED, most thinking people KNEW he was lying...and I bought the lies and voted for him.It will take us decades to undo the damage obama (who I voted for) has done to the people of the US.I wonder if I will buy his lies again...you are a pure fool M'am

Ha. Nixon and "the lift of a driving dream" reminded me of Man of la Mancha, a B'way musical of the Nixonian era: "to dream the impossible dream."

As political metaphors go, the 'dream' meme is more popular than it should be. The idea isn't intended to refer to the grab-bag of images that occur during sleep, but instead to lofty goals and desired ends, that place where we want and deserve to get, what MLK called the 'promised land'. But in the hands of politicians, the 'driving dream' is usually just the latest fantasy to get you to vote for them. As Clint said during his rample at the RNC, it's the same old thing, politicos coming around every few years looking for votes, wanting to be hired and trying to talk you into it by selling snake oil.

Note that when I showed the logical flaw you made supporting your assertion you came back with ad hominem. You might as well have just said "you're right" and saved yourself the embarassment of doubling down on stupid.

Ned, I know this is a neat talking point:" decades to undo the damage obama (who I voted for) has done to the people of the US. " But please explain how working to save middle class jobs, increasing benefits for Vets, making student loans less expensive, and lowering the cost of prescription meds, while extracting us from Iraq, and increasing drone attacks thus killings al-Qaaeda's key leaders will take decades to undo.

Note that when I showed the logical flaw you made supporting your assertion you came back with ad hominem. You might as well have just said "you're right" and saved yourself the embarassment of doubling down on stupid.

You know I love you, man, but you're backing yourself into a corner here. You said something stupid with the "Per usual" crack.

Come on, as a guy who knows matrimony as I have, and shared the pain of losing it, you should just say "my bad" and let it go. You know I won't hold it against you, or think it implies anything about you - I know what you're trying to say and do - but you've got to be honest, with us and yourself, that what you said is false.

"Dreams" was a purposeful effort by the Usurper to have the knowledge of his foreign father before the public, in order to cement the precedent he is attempting to set--- that one born with foreign influence could be President. He is exactly the type of man that the framers were preventing from the office.That precedent is not valid, since it is against the Constitution--- that no person but a natural born Citizen, or a citizen born before 1789 could be eligible.

Shouting Thomas said... Marshal, a discussion of human emotions and dreams is, by definition, not a rational discussion.

You're something of a dunce.

The logic presented doesn't apply to Dunham's feelings. It applies to the facts you believe support your assertion. I'd think that was clear. But clear thinking must be too much to ask from from someone who believes raising daughters makes him an authority on any woman he chooses to armchair psychoanalyze.

The logic presented doesn't apply to Dunham's feelings. It applies to the facts you believe support your assertion. I'd think that was clear. But clear thinking must be too much to ask from from someone who believes raising daughters makes him an authority on any woman he chooses to armchair psychoanalyze.

The first job of a father is to get his daughters through to the age of 21 or so without getting knocked up.

Do you have any idea how this is accomplished?

I'm just not an idiot like you. I've lived for 35 years in communities that feature plenty of Stanley Dunhams. I can see what is in front of my face.

Colonel here is one example: To help veterans find jobs when they get home, President Obama signed into law two tax credits that encourage businesses to hire unemployed veterans and wounded warriors.

A record number of veterans are entering the VA health system, so President Obama has significantly boosted the Veterans Affairs budget to ensure that veterans receive timely access to the highest-quality benefits and services. And though he knew it would be difficult, he's making sure the VA eliminates the backlog by 2015.And Jay what is the cost of NOT doing this?

"To help veterans find jobs when they get home, President Obama signed into law two tax credits that encourage businesses to hire unemployed veterans and wounded warriors."

While hiring veterans is laudable, and I wouldn't gainsay it for a moment, note that for every veteran hired under Obama's plan, a non-veteran is not hired. Here we have the President doing what he thinks is the central responsibilty of government; picking winners and losers.

Special tax credit plans by the economic wizards in Washington are no substitute for real economic growth.

All this talk about "creating" or "saving" jobs is bad. It inevitably leads to "creating" jobs by passing more laws requiring more regulations which require more regulators to be hired which require industry to hire more people to deal with the regulations and regulators, and so on, which is just a sea anchor dragging on the economy and preventing the ship of state from changing course to stand off the shoals of disaster.

R-V and that section of the Democrats seem to think the Federal Government is a bottomless horn of plenty created by the Almighty or the Big Bang, and it is only a question of who shall control the outlet end in order to create happines and prosperity for all. But it really is only a front office - overhead - created to form a structure within which we can work for our own happiness and prosperity, and to which we are willing to surrender a part of the fruits of our labor in order to have an orderly structure to work within.

If we want more jobs, etc., the front office needs to create conditions to encourage more enterprise among us peasants, and the jobs will follow.The other way around does not work.

Nor does it count as growth in the economy. Obama doesn't and shouldn't get points for saying the right things about his priorities "working" without being able to point to results.

Employment is lower than it was when he started, certainly. And more jobs aren't "middle class" they're "lower class" and "part time" jobs. Job growth is measured in numbers that don't even match population growth.

Should Obama get credit for "working to save" middle class jobs when he pretty much destroyed the generally good paying jobs on oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico and has done crap-all to get big projects like the Keystone pipeline underway?

Jobs aren't his priority. Self-evidently. He has NOT prioritized jobs.

I don't care how much "work" he's done. He doesn't get a participation ribbon.

Speaking of hacks - Ned, I know this is a neat talking point:" decades to undo the damage obama (who I voted for) has done to the people of the US. " But please explain how working to save middle class jobs, increasing benefits for Vets, making student loans less expensive, and lowering the cost of prescription meds, while extracting us from Iraq, and increasing drone attacks thus killings al-Qaaeda's key leaders will take decades to undo.

Funny, R/V, but I remember your ilk screaming to the high heavens that drone attacks were shameful, that they killed innocent babies and puppies and that Bush was a war criminal for using them. Odd how one's perspective changes depending on whether the war criminal has an R or D after his name.

Just as dissent became the highest form of racism sometime in January 2008.

Unemployment is so high that it's probably a good thing to make incentives to hire vets. But the truth is the truth, and it really is picking winners and losers and it does nothing at all to increase the total number of jobs available or the total number of people employed.

School loans are nice if you're like me and willing to gamble on some hopeful future job creation because you can't get a job NOW so why not go to school? Pushing people into debt, essentially, because the economy is that bad might be better than nothing but it might not be, too.

But please, let us demonize "big business" some more, because of the fairness. Lets throw money at "green" energy and watch it go down the toilet. Lets close down plans for a pipeline for Canadian oil sands and shale oil, for the children, so they can produce every bit as much of the "dirty" stuff and sell it to China.

Chris my "ilk?" please show me the links where I said what you claim, or do you simply like making over-generalized talking points that paint the world black and white. And speaking of Green,Synova I suggest that you look at the growth of solar in California because they have figured out how to lease the energy!

" License to kill gophers by the government of the United Nations. Man, free to kill gophers at will.

"So we finish the eighteenth and he's gonna stiff me. And I say, "Hey, Obama, hey, how about a little something, you know, for the effort, you know." And he says, "Oh, uh, there won't be any money, but when you die, on your deathbed, you will receive total consciousness." So I got that goin' for me, which is nice."

"roesch/voltaire said...A record number of veterans are entering the VA health system, so President Obama has significantly boosted the Veterans Affairs budget to ensure that veterans receive timely access to the highest-quality benefits and services. And though he knew it would be difficult, he's making sure the VA eliminates the backlog by 2015."

Taking this statement further, how does Obama's cutting $700 billion from Medicare NOT in any way harm Medicare and ultimately the care seniors receive?

Well, yes, they sure have figured out how to grow the "alternative energies!"

First you drive up the demand by applying political pressure on the local governments to require the power companies to have a certain percentage of their product consist of solar or wind driven generation. This costs the companies money, so they petition the PRC's for rate increases, which in fairness are granted. No problem since it is only the rate-payers money, not theirs.

Then you phony up the supply by guaranteeing loans or giving outright grants to the producers of solar panels and wind turbines, especially start-up firms formed by your political cronies in return for a share of the take in the form of donations. Again, no problem since it is only Federal money and we can always have Bernanke and Geithner "create" some more of that!

And California has figured out how to "lease" the energy? Does Al Gore have something to do with this?

America has the lift of a driving dream. It's the liberty and freedom to rise and fall on your own without a monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy or self-appointed guardians of the public good to interfere with your devotion to "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness".

Pres. Obama and his fellow-travelers want to substitute for that dream the one embodied in his video "Julia"; one where we all get what we need from the government without having to do any productive work; a government composed of the educational and political elite who know what's best for us better than we do ourselves. I forget who said this, but a government powerful enough to give us all we want is powerful enough to take all that we have.

Garage. I will do it for you." The only element of truth here is that the health care law seeks to reduce future Medicare spending, and the tally of those cost reductions over the next 10 years is $716 billion. The money wasn’t "robbed," however, and other presidents have made similar reductions to the Medicare program."

AllieOop said... Shouting Thomas is brilliant, Marshal is a dunce and an asshole.

Even Obama said there was a huge problem in the black community with fathers not taking responsibility. This is no secret.

The idea that family instability hurts the black community isn't in dispute. I'm delighted by your eloquent and thoroughly amusing accusations. Normally you misstate people's positions. But in my case you had to misstate the entire subject in order to build your strawman.

Do I get a trophy for eliciting the second most ridiculous Oops comment ever? (The first of course was when she claimed Republicans are instituting The HandMaid's Tale in America, and I don't think I drew that one out.)

r/v: "making student loans less expensive". Obama only made student loans less expensive for those CURRENTLY in school. Those who recently graduated are paying an interest rate of 6.8%. There was NO change in the interest rate for millions of people with student loans. You spout BS, the same BS as Obama, and expect those who are working really hard to make those student loans payments with a 6.8% interest rate to buy into your BS.

paminwi said... r/v: "making student loans less expensive". Obama only made student loans less expensive for those CURRENTLY in school. Those who recently graduated are paying an interest rate of 6.8%

The interest rate is not the sole determinant of the loan cost. Democrats drive up the principal by adding unnecessary spending to the education system primarily to fund political sinecures. John Edwards shouldn't have been given a job at UNC making hundreds of thousands to dollars. That unnecessary spending, which drives up tuition, is a bigger problem than the interest rate.

My first wife was hot. She was good looking and sexy. She was crazy in bed and sometimes crazy out of bed. She could be worth the world if somehow you could touch her at all. She was part Cherokee and proud of it. She was the mother of my sons and I loved her, but she was crazy. She smoked herself to death. She thought it was her duty to smoke tobacco.

Hey Marshall, ST speaks the simple truth that black culture is all but dysfunctional due to the baby daddy phenomenon, obvious to all but the willfully blind, and you throw out the you must be crazy card. You're bankrupt.